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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 5, 2023 18:52:37 GMT
Give My Regards to Broad Street
No More Lonely Nights (ballad) Good Day Sunshine Corridor Music Yesterday/Here, There and Everywhere/Wanderlust Ballroom Dancing Silly Love Songs Silly Love Songs (reprise) Not Such a Bad Boy So Bad No Values For No One Eleanor Rigby/Eleanor's Dream The Long and Winding Road No More Lonely Nights (playout version)
"gentlemen, we've got the tapes"
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 6, 2023 4:01:29 GMT
The consensus seems to be, it was a mistake for Paul to record new versions of his Beatles songs. And once again, I don't mind having them. It's not something that bugs me the way it does most people. Two of the three new songs are rockers - No Values and Not Such a Bad Boy. I like both of those a lot. I gotta go with No More Lonely Nights as the best track, though. It was deservedly a top ten hit. In fact, Paul would only have one more top 10 single after that. Alas, even a hit single couldn't save the film. The soundtrack was his first solo album to NOT make the top 20 in the USA. Worst track? Again, it's No More Lonely Nights - the playout version.
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Post by kds on Apr 6, 2023 12:37:14 GMT
I've fallen behind on this.
Best - No More Lonely Nights - Ballad version - Thanks in part to the guitar solo by David Gilmour, this is one of my all time favorite Paul solo songs.
Worst - Silly Love Songs Reprise
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 8, 2023 6:58:18 GMT
After the disaster of Broad Street, Paul's next record was...surprise...another film song. Spies Like Us was not on the soundtrack of the film, but it did get released as a standard 7 inch single, as well as a 12 inch with 3 different mixes of the song (overkill, anyone?), and a leftover Wings track recorded in 1975, My Carnival. Then we get into the era of Press to Play/All the Best, which is really rock bottom IMO. I bought the single Press before hearing it - and immediately regretted it. It sounded like a bloody Phil Collins record with typical over the top 80's production. There was a slight return to form in 1989 with My Brave Face. It sounded like Paul being Paul. Generally, though, the quality of his stuff has gone downhill since that time.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 8, 2023 11:35:52 GMT
Then we get into the era of Press to Play/All the Best, which is really rock bottom IMO. I bought the single Press before hearing it - and immediately regretted it. It sounded like a bloody Phil Collins record with typical over the top 80's production. I agree with this--and of course the production was no accident: it was exactly what he was looking for in hiring producer Hugh Padgham--but I think Paul did Padgham no favors in that this album was also his weakest collection of songs maybe ever. The debut was a weak collection of songs, mostly throwaway ditties, but it had some top quality stuff including obviously "Maybe I'm Amazed." Wild Life might be the only other album up to that point similarly weak in terms of actual songs.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 8, 2023 12:48:43 GMT
Give My Regards to Broad Street No More Lonely Nights (ballad) Good Day Sunshine Corridor Music Yesterday/Here, There and Everywhere/Wanderlust Ballroom Dancing Silly Love Songs Silly Love Songs (reprise) Not Such a Bad Boy So Bad No Values For No One Eleanor Rigby/Eleanor's Dream The Long and Winding Road No More Lonely Nights (playout version) "gentlemen, we've got the tapes" Before moving on, I think I'll take my copy off the shelf and give it a spin for the first time in 20 years. I only have it on vinyl. What's interesting is that the LP, cassette, and CD (which were all released at the same time) had different tracklists. You posted the cassette tracklist. "So Bad" isn't on the LP and the cassette is missing "Goodnight Princess" from the CD. Typically, in that era, you'd probably consider the LP the definitive version of the album, but that's not the case here. The back cover of the LP explains: Oh, and they aren't kidding about the editing. The LP is significantly shorter. (Which makes it my preferred choice. ) Wikipedia has a nice breakdown of all this. Anyway, time to listen. But I fear this history will be more interesting than the album.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 8, 2023 14:32:03 GMT
Give My Regards to Broad Street
Best - "No More Lonely Nights (Ballad)" - Has the magic of the highlights of Tug of War. I also considered "Yesterday". His voice sounds great on it. This was sort of the end of his prime, vocally. At times he sounds as good as ever (like here) but on some of the other tracks you can hear the age. The remakes on side 1 are much better than side 2. Overall, I really enjoyed the album, to my surprise. I mean, it is a quasi- greatest hits album. The material is pretty darn great. But it's more cohesive than I expected. I'd rate the album a 7 and rank it in the middle of his solo catalog. Oh, and "No Values" and "Not Such A Bad Boy" are pretty good. Solid album tracks. "No Values", especially, wouldn't have sounded out-of-place if recorded for one of those later Wings albums.
Worst - "The Long and Winding Road" - Unfortunately, the album fizzles out a bit with less enjoyable (but fine) remakes ("For No One" and "Eleanor Rigby"), the boring "Eleanor's Dream", the significantly inferior version of "No More Lonely Nights", and the sax ABOMINATION that is my choice for worst. Holy cow.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 8, 2023 15:17:22 GMT
Then we get into the era of Press to Play/All the Best, which is really rock bottom IMO. I bought the single Press before hearing it - and immediately regretted it. It sounded like a bloody Phil Collins record with typical over the top 80's production. I guess I ought to relisten to Pipes of Peace and Press to Play back-to-back, but I've never noticed much of a difference quality-wise or even production-wise (both are dated with 80s production values). So, to me the "rock bottom era" started with Pipes of Peace (or, really, the "This Girl Is Mine" single in late 1982) and continues through CHOBA B CCCP released in Russia in late 1988. Regarding the comparison of Pipes of Peace and Press to Play: In my opinion, at least the latter has some memorable tracks, like "Angry" and "However Absurd". Even if they aren't for everyone, they might wake you from your nap. And there's "Only Love Remains" which is at least reminiscent of Paul's great ballads. There was a slight return to form in 1989 with My Brave Face. It sounded like Paul being Paul. Generally, though, the quality of his stuff has gone downhill since that time. I agree that "My Brave Face" and/or Flowers in the Dirt represented a slight return to form, but I completely disagree that, on the whole, his stuff went downhill since then. I realize that you're not a fan of Paul's later career, but that happens to all of us with certain artists. We're interested to a certain point, then we just aren't. But I think that usually has more to do with us than the music. Some fans dismiss all the Beatles solo stuff, the Wings stuff...to me, that's not much different.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 8, 2023 15:27:34 GMT
I think Paul's career was consistently inconsistent from the early 80s through Flaming Pie, which I think was a really, really strong (but not great) album. Some good songs, a lot of mediocre-to-decent songs, and some clunkers. But like so many older artists, he did seem to be throwing it all at the wall for a solid decade or more.
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Post by B.E. on Apr 12, 2023 22:44:45 GMT
Press to Play
Best - "Angry" - I also strongly considered "However Absurd" and "Only Love Remains". "Move Over Busker" is pretty good, too.
Worst - "Pretty Little Head" - Evidence of Paul's ego. "Talk More Talk" was deserving as well.
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 30, 2023 2:33:59 GMT
I think the title track, Press, is rock bottom. It sounds like someone grafted Paul's voice onto a typical mass production 80's track. "Oklahoma was never like this"? WTF?
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Post by lonelysummer on May 2, 2023 5:47:20 GMT
Another thing that annoyed me: in 1978, we got the 12 track compilation, Wings Greatest, featuring 10 of the biggest Wings hits, plus Paul's solo debut Another Day, and the Paul and Linda hit Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey. With Macca's commercial fortunes on the decline in 1987, he decided to give us All the Best - a "solo" hits collection that repeated most of Wings Greatest, while overlooking many of his solo hits. And to add insult to injury, the US version did not include the one new song he recorded for the album, Once Upon a Long Ago. Puzzling. So what do aging recording stars do when their records aren't selling anymore? Hit the road, which is exactly what Paul did after completing his next album, Flowers in the Dirt. That album eventually went gold, but even a world tour couldn't push that album into the top ten. That album also produced his last top 40 hit in the US, My Brave Face. I thought that was a good record, would've easily be a top ten hit if it had come out 10 or even 5 years earlier. It was the last 45 of his I would see for many years. The followup, This One, was a cassette only single. I thought that was a good track, too, but only heard it on the radio a couple times.
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Post by lonelysummer on May 8, 2023 5:27:22 GMT
I guess we can unofficially close this thread, due to a lack of interest - mostly mine. I might start a John or George thread.
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